Earlier this week, ITA hosted a webinar to gain insight on crafting an e-commerce strategy for Europe. Participants included experts in the fields of supply chain management, payment services, search engine optimization, and direct on-line marketing. Here are a few takeaways on the unique aspects of e-commerce in Europe:

The UK is the largest e-Commerce market for US goods and services.

The e-Commerce market in the EU is worth $472B USD – relatively split equally between goods and service exports.

Smaller countries import more than larger markets! For example 88% of Nordics shopped online last year.

Service providers in the logistic space that will know how to set up distribution in Europe.

Direct online marketing is easiest to start by creating a Google-friendly site

Using analytics and Search Engine Optimization is critical- with “search” it’s about telling you that the potential customer is already interested in your product.

Many countries also have their own search engines that are popular in those markets.

It’s helpful to translate keyword searches in languages for the markets your company wants to target – for example, if you’re targeting France, translate the keywords into French.

Credit cards are still the most popular payment alternative in both Europe and the US by a market share of approximately 40%; however, payment methods vary greatly between countries in the EU and offering multiple payment methods is helpful.

One of the most common reasons people drop out of the checkout process if they can’t find their preferred payment method- not localizing payment methods can result in the loss up to 50% of potential sales.

Regarding logistics, how e-Commerce works in the EU is very different than the US as parcel rates vary by country or even within a country

Varying shipping rates can be challenging for international pricing – use “mixed set up” meaning using one supply chain company for certain countries and a different one for other.

Non-EU countries like Norway and Switzerland have different customs documentation requirements.

Set up distribution where there’s the shortest lead time to consumers.

Although duties are uniform across the EU members, VAT taxes vary by country.